Asmongold speaks, announces indefinite break from Twitch streams

World of Warcraft streamer Asmongold announced that he will take an indefinite break from streaming on Twitch in a tweet from January 10.

The streamer didn’t elabtorate at length as to why he had chosen to take the break, but cited “several reasons” for the decision. Asmongold’s last stream took place three days ago, when the streamer talked at length about his feelings surrounding the riots in Washington, D.C. as well as the banning and subsequent changing of Twitch’s PogChamp emote. The co-founder of the OTK organization seemed frustrated at times during the January 7 livestream, which he uncharacteristically ended nearly three hours earlier than usual.

Asmongold to take an indefinite break from Twitch, return uncertain

The WoW streamer made the announcement on Twitter, declining to name his more specific reasons for taking an “indefinite” break from the streaming platform. Asmongold, who at one point had planned to go to law school before starting to stream, spent almost an hour giving his opinion on the January 7 riot that locked down the U.S. Capitol building and left four people dead. Despite it being a serious topic that had clearly affected him, his chat wasn’t entirely supportive.

Asmongold spent a majority of the time dealing with an unruly chat that seemed determined to frustrate him. At times, they took his words out of context, ignored the conversation he was driving, and argued against him. There were positive interactions, such as when he entertained a discussion with one of his mods about American Vice President Mike Pence, but the majority of comments seemed designed to frustrate Asmongold. When one viewer took his words out of context, the streamer became visibly upset before responding.

“Listen to what I’m saying,” Asmongold said.

The stream took place several days after Asmongold released a Youtube video on his personal channel that criticised Twitch for the it’s inconsistent rules enforcement and application of bans to streamers. The video also touched on Twitch’s move to ban the words “simp” and “incel” before the Amazon-owned company decided to ban select racial epithets.

Although fans haven’t seen any more World of Warcraft since January 7, Asmongold did appear on his alternate Twitch channel, ZackRawrrr. And while that channel is, like his alternate Youtube account, more personal, the chat in that stream was equally combative there.

With Asmongold deciding not to reveal all of the details behind his reasons, fans won’t know for sure if or when he will return to the platform. He has taken breaks in the past, most notably a four-month absence in early 2020 before he returned in April to the delight of his fans.